Strike Down: Dementia
by Within A Tragedy
Summary: Years before Yugi Moto -before duel monsters- there was a lonely mansion on an island in northern Germany. Unspeakable acts of torture were practiced there in order to recreate a forgotten Egyptian myth. What exactly happened before duel monsters? Will it ever resurface? (Warning! Will be confusing if you have not read the original Strike Down.)
1. Prologue

Welcome to Strike Down: Dementia! This is a prequel for Strike Down, so if you haven't read the original yet then I highly reccomend it. Basically, this story explains what happened to Elektra's parents before she was born and why her father is obsessed with torturing people.

I just felt that Klaus and Anna needed some explaining because they have a very large and interesting backstory that was too long for an Interlude. So, I made this to try and help create a sense of humanity with Elektra's parents. None of my OCs or many of the main Yu-Gi-Oh characters have any lines in here or have any appearences. But that does not mean that none of them will be her :3 There is some franchise refrencing in here so you guys can kind of get an understanding of its connection to my base FanFic.

So, enjoy! And don't forget to review!

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Strike Down: Dementia

One: Prologue

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Only the mind can control the body, and only one's self can control the mind. That's where my father came in. Father wanted to contol people. He wanted the powers of God, basically. He controled people, he controled what people looked like, and he controled his future. The one thing he could never control was his past.

* * *

Anna gazed out her window, longing to again see the real world. When she was younger, her friend, Klaus, had taken her to the mainland to Hamburg. The scents of shops and of different people wearing perfumes of all kinds was captivating, but her place was here. Or so she was told.

All her life, Anna had been told that her home was here in the mansion, and that she was chosen for a great duty. For the past fourteen years, ever since she was born, Anna had been taught by a staut woman named Ora how to preform her duty when the time comes. Having little influence from the outside world, Anna believed her life to be worthless except that she was to concieve the child of a possible non-mortal being. The thought of birthing a monster was scary, but Ora, an experienced mother, said that the babies will look nothing like actual monsters; that the name is just drived from an ancient Egyptian folktale. But still, the idea of having a child this young was scary.

Anna has heard and seen what happens to the women giving birth to their babies. The screams are horrid as are the words they declare. The blood loss and the pain are intense due to the lack of mortal instruments for modern childbirth. Some mothers have even died with the child still fighting to escape, luckily the Great Master and Klaus's father, Harold, disected the mother's womb in order to retrieve the baby before it, too, died. That is what happened to Anna and her mother; her mother died during childbirth, leaving Anna an orphan.

Even though she was orphaned, Anna never really felt alone. She had Ora, who was like her mother to her along with her biological children, and she had friends in Jiyanne (a fellow mother-to-be), Klaus, and Horace (a friend of Klaus). Jiyanne was born with a blue eye and hazel eye and had magenta hair. She was also a triplet of two other girls named Kiri and Eis. They both died very young- or, well, murdered at a very young age. Klaus was quiet and gentle. He had white hair like Anna's but he had electric blue eyes in contrast to Anna's fuschia-lavender eyes. Horace had bone white skin and dark violet hair. He's what was known as a pure breed; an untouchable prize among the resident scientists. Klaus had always looked out for her and has gone out of his way to teach her how to read and kept her out of the dungeon as much as he could. Secretly, Anna had a deep crush for him and fantacised about a day when they can flee this prison, marry, and have natural babies by the dozens.

Alas she was trapped in Harold Redgaurd's mansion of death and torture, forever chained to the life in the shadows.

Still, Anna never let her heart succomb to the darkness around her. She still believed in a life outside the walls, away from all of the screaming and torturing and dying. She believed in a light. A light that will cast the shadows away from her.

Before she went to bed that night on her fourteenth birthday, Anna prayed to God, thanking him for watching over her through the difficult years. Klaus was an athiest and often poked fun at her for believing in Him, but Anna still felt compelled to have at least one thing to have faith in. She knew that one day, things'll get better. How could they get any worse?

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Sorry, this chapter's short. The next one, however, I'll try to make alot longer.

For those of you who have already read Strike Down, you already know what happens to Anna. For those of you who haven't, well you could guess that she dies just by reading the previous sentence.

Later!


	2. The Maniac's Son

Okay, this chapter is longer and very, very, very, _**VERY**_ morbid and there is some sexual content. Just a warning.

Also, I'd just like to say that I do not support or agree with any of what is happening in this mansion, I am solely writing this for the purpose to explain things in my base FanFic.

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Strike Down: Dementia

Two: The Maniac's Son

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The bright morning sun peeked into Anna's cell window and awoke her in the most radiant way. Even though the dungeon was dusty, dark, and grey, Anna still wore a brilliant smile and braved the day better than most people twice or thrice her age. To the other prisoners, she was either crazy, ingnorant, or a saint. Most people found hope in being with her; the hope that one day they shall escape the horrible fate that awaits them.

Anna was one of the very few people who could leave the dungeon on their own free will, only because of her friendship with Klaus. She was halfway to the door when she heard God-awful screaming. Even though the screaming was common, the shrill noise had a haunting effect on little Anna. Carefully and silently, she back-paced down the hall and went around a corridor and made her way to a door used for horrible testing; the source of the screams. She peeked into a small window and saw a familiar grotesque sight.

One of the scientists, Mr. Slay, was testing on a middle-aged man Anna lovingly reffered to as Cousin Tin Can. Of course, Tin Can wasn't Anna's real relative, but he acted like family to her. The name came from the fact that Tin Can was homeless before Harold or one of his "assistants" drugged him and trapped him here. Cousin Tin Can would tell Anna stories of beautiful things he had experienced in the real world; things like flying in giant metal falcons called "planes" and watching things called "Disney movies" and listening to all kinds of music. Music other than that repetiitve opera and orchestra music the scientists play all the time. He was like a friend to Anna, or even more, like family to her.

"Please," Cousin Tin Can pleaded, "Please let me go!"

Anna was used to the torture other prisoners were subjected to, and it sickened her greatly, but in this situation someone she deeply loved was involved. Her eyes were glued onto the scene as if it was a horrible train wreck. Tin Can had confided with Anna everything about his life before his imprisonment. He had been divoriced from his wife and he had two sons. He got weekends with them, and he cherished every last moment he had spent with them, but a few years later his wife moved to Austria and took her two sons with her. Tin Can went into depression, lost he job and everything he had, and roamed the streets drunk and disarrayed. After he was captured, he sobered up and realized that he wanted break out and mend his broken life. It was his imprisonment that made him realize just how meaningful his life could be.

"Le-Let me go!" Tin Can begged yet again.

Mr. Slay ignored his desperate pleas and moved to his tray of medical intruments. "Hm, it's nothing personal, George, it's Master Harold's orders."

Tin Can wrestled in his restraints futily. Anna watched from afar, knowing that any intervention may result in her death. Though her heart did weigh heavy for her friend.

Mr. Slay took out a large syringe and approached his captive test subject. "This will hurt. Alot I might add."

The scientist injected Cousin Tin Can with some strange clear liquid and immediantly her old friend started rithing in intense pain. Anna was immobilized in terror. No. Not her friend. Cousin Tin Can had two sons he needed to get back to.

"Agh! It burns!" Tin Can wailed. "What did you do to me?!"

Mr. Slay pulled the needle out of his arm and placed it back on the tray for later use. "If you survive, then you will be tested on again. If you die, then you die."

"I say, what did you put in me you rat bastard?!"

"It's an experimental drug to later be used to change the pigment in one's skin."

Immediantly, boils began to appear on the injection site and began spreading up and down his arm, sometimes bursting and oozing yellow puss. He started foaming at the mouth as he repeatedly muttered, "Go to hell, go to hell."

Anna was distraught beyond means and was gasping frantically as she was forcefully pulled away from the door. Once she was far away from the door, Ora knelt down to her level, clearly disappointed by her.

"Anna!" Ora scolded, "You know better than to watch the murders."

"They, they, they were killing him," Anna sobbed.

"Who?"

"Cou-co-Cousin T-Tin Can," she replied, hardly finding the words since they were never meant to fit. "He-he's killing him."

Ora dropped all previous feelings of irritance and held the little girl close to her. "Oh, Anna... Baby, you know that this happens."

She shook her head. "Not to Cousin Tin Can. He- he was supposed to make it out and see his family again!"

"Shh," Ora hushed quietly, "George will see his sons again. Someday, I promise."

"So, he is not dead?" Anna asked.

Ora bit her lip, so hard that she started tasting blood mixed with lip gloss in her mouth. Ora was a woman about twenty-five years of age who had birthed seventeen children though only thirteen of them are still alive. She had short dark brown hair and light brown eyes. She was an orphan, and was "adopted" by Harold's father right before he died.

Even though she had her own children by the dozen, Ora still saw Anna as being one of her own. So telling her the truth of George's, or as she calls him, Cousin Tin Can's fate was extremely hard. Then again, she could never lie to that face.

"He's dead," Ora confessed. "I'm sorry, Anna."

Anna buried her face in Ora's chest just as she had done whenever she was feeling depressed.

* * *

Later that day, Anna was in the garden in the center of the mansion playing with Klaus and a bunch of new pet rabbits his father has given him. Anna thought they were adorable and one by one she would pick them up and name them. Several black ones were named Klavier, Morgan, and Kissen, two spotted rabbits were named Diamant and Ostern, and the last three white bunnies were named Leinen, Viertel, and Schnee. Klaus seemed to pay little attention to his new pets as he was occupying himself with a science textbook underneath a shady birch tree..

"You should come play, Klaus," Anna suggested, cuddling with Ostern.

Klaus glanced over to her out of the corner of his eye through his glasses. "I would rather not. Father told me that he has special plans for those vermin."

"They are not _vermin_," Anna defended, "They are cute wittle bunnie rabbits."

Klaus smiled. It was amusing to be with Anna, someone who lives in the dungeons and yet still maintains a peppy demeanor. Even though she is his friend, Klaus still found himself evaluating her as if she was one of the experiments Harold has him work on day in and day out. She was a strange case with an optimistic attitude in the most dire and hopeless of situations. And she found a friendship with him, the son of the man who trapped her in this life.

He shut his anatomy book and walked over to his friend, who was a beacon for the little rabbits. She picked up the one she had named Klaiver and held him gently in her lap as he curled up in her presence. Anna was so kind to these insignifigant creatures. Harold told his son that anyone or anything less than a Redgaurd man was inferior to them and that "perfecting" them was a honor beyond any mortal understanding. Though, he'd make an exception for Anna in a heartbeat.

"Anna, I heard what had happened to that friend of your's-" he started.

"You mean Cousin Tin Can?"

Klaus smirked. It was a crude name but he respected her name for the prisoner. "-Cousin Tin Can, and I was wondering how you are holding up."

Anna averted her eyes to the bunny laying soundly in her lap and stroked its back contently. "I guess I am doing okay."

Klaus wrapped his arm around her and whispered, "Anna, I do not want for you to be afraid of me. I do not want for you to fear this place."

She looked puzzled. Klaus, three years her senior, has done nothing to harm her in any way for as long as they had known each other; ever since she was born. So why would he ever hurt her?

"Klaus, you have done nothing to me and I trust that you shall never bring harm to me," Anna said, "I have no reason to fear you."

He turned his head away from her, obviously ashamed of something.

"What is it that you are hiding from me?" Anna questioned, worried for her close friend.

He hesitated, but answered, "Father wants for me to do things to people that he has done." Anna pulled away from him in shock.

"Klaus, you are scaring me."

He looked over to her longingly. "He wants me to murder and breed people."

She jumped up, Klavier tightly held in her arms, just now taking in the realism of his statement. Klaus was going to grow up just like his father. He was going to become a serial killer.

"No!" Anna proclaimed, tears running down her face. "No! You cannot!"

"Anna! I do not have a choice!" Klaus tried to defend, but only driving her away more.

"Please! You are not a murderer!" She backed away from him fearfully. "I just lost Tin Can, I am not losing you to this horrid place, too!"

"Anna-!"

But she was already long gone. As she pushed past scientists, maids, and some of Harold's calcubines, a trail of tears fell behind her until she made it to her cell and slammed the cage door shut behind her. Klavier hopped out of her arms safely onto the floor and made his way to her small matress for a bed. Anna stood there for the longest time, broken and fragile from the news. She loved Klaus with all her heart, but her heart was shattered by the thought of him one day becoming a heartless and menacing villain. He can't, he just can't.

Anna broke down and secluded herself in a corner. She wanted to just wither away and to be blown away by the wind like smoldering ash. There really was no escape from this place.

A few minutes later, Anna's sobbing was interupted by loud moaning down the hall. Not that it wan uncommon in this place. Quite often sexually mature females were used to "make new test subjects" when the supply was running low. Ora was one of these young mothers. She had her first child when she was eleven or twelve and has been bearing children ever since. And it was Ora's voice that she heard today.

An hour later, the strange noises stopped but Anna continued crying. The door down the hall opened and Ora was about to walk right pass Anna's cell and stopped abruptly at the sound of her crying. Ora opened the door as Anna's cell was never locked and sat down next to her. She wrapped her arm around the little girl she thought of as her own and comforted her.

Ora quietly and kindly hushed her. "Come now Anna, what's the matter?"

Anna wiped away her tears and answered, "Is Klaus going to become evil?"

There it was again- the answer Ora did not want to give this innocent being. She bit her lip and replied, "Oh Anna... There are things that we will never accept, no matter how in-your-face they are."

"So, that is a yes?" Anna questioned.

Ora shrugged honestly. "I dunno. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

Of course you already know the answer. Or do you?

The reason Anna and Klaus use perfect grammar is because they were taught that way by Harold, in case you were wondering. If you have noticed, Klaus spoke that way in Strike Down and Elektra when she was little.

That's all I can think of to say for now. Later!


	3. Tin Can's Legacy

After this chapter, I'm probably not gonna update this story for a week.

And for those of you who haven't read the original Strike Down or if you're not familiar with my work, then PLEASE: I employ you to look it up so you can understand this. 'Cause some of you probably don't know what this story has to do with Yu-Gi-Oh at all and you if what I just described is you right now, then God bless you for reading this far.

But the relation between the franchise and this story will make itself clear just bear with me. For those of you who have read Strike Down and you've already met Elektra, Blaze (I know their in the first chapter but I'm talking about if you made the connection yet *cough* Dragons *cough*), Twyla and Terrance, then you may see the connection with this.

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Strike Down: Dementia

Three: Tin Can's Legacy

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Ora patted sleeping Anna gently. Her innocnce was mezmorizing. How that girl has lived fourteen years of purity was an egnigma. Ever since Ora reached sexual maturity at the tender age of eleven, her body has been used as fertile breeding gorund. Out of her thirteen surviving children, she has only seen six of them. And out of those six she has only loved three of them. Their names were Nathan, Iris, and Florence. And she loved them more than anything in the world. But it has been years since she has ever really seen any of her children, and she didn't really want to. She didn't want to see her daughters after they have been tainted with the seed of Harold's experiments, she didn't want to see her son become a monster, she just didn't want to see them in this place.

The young woman rubbed her belly in a mixed feeling of anticipation and regret. Soon, she'll gain another child within the year. Though no matter what the child looks like, no matter what its name will be, no matter who they grow to be, Harold will only see it as a piece of rubbish meant for his experiments. Whatever her next child will be, she will love at she has done to her latest three.

Sometimes, young Ora views Anna as being one of her children. She's about the same age as her eldest child, but they have distinct differing characteristics. Ora had dark features with brown hair and eyes while Anna was something kin to a pearl or gem of some sort. Anna had curly white hair and polished amethyst eyes, not to mention a face of porceline complextion.

Ora dreaded the day when Harold will make Anna become a breeder like she. Anna had already come of age a year ago but with help of the Master's son she was able to prevent the act from occuring. But she knew that she could only prolong the inevidable. Even though Ora and Klaus only crossed paths while in company with their beloved little girl, they had the same tacit understanding that one day Anna will either succomb to the darkness of the Hell that surrounds them or die. The young girl knew this. She knew that she'd soon become a mother to a child who shall continue the god-awful chain of torture for some pagan belief. But that outcome didn't quite seem to phase her.

Master Harold was obsessed with an ancient book that told the events of ancient Egypt some five millinia ago. It was an amusing fable- Ora mostly only admired for its pictures as she could not read- depicting images of fasanating monsters and humanoids and angels and warriors and magicians. Some of the pictures looked like the prisoners here. Like how there was a picture of three women with unnaturaly coloured hair with wings who wore armor plating. They somewhat resembled Jiyanne, Eis, and Kiri. And then there was a drawing of a playful little girl with bright green eyes playing with an odd boy with spiked tri-coloured hair. Egypt must have been an awfully bewildering place.

Ora yawned and rubbed the sleeping girl's back. Anna was just too pure to be tainted by the sin in this prison of a mansion. She couldn't handle seeing this virgin child go through the horrid things she has done. Her heart may be dark and bent, but it still loved her. The child twitched in her slumber and moaned in displeasure. A bad dream. Ora smiled tenderly and began to sing a soothing lullaby her mother taught her. It was a song about a mother birthing a set of twins when one of the two suddenly dies. The mother chooses to continue to care for the living child instead of being constantly depressed for the loss of the other. The young woman took the lyrics to this song to heart as she herself has birthed a set of twins where both of them died. It was their deaths that brought back Ora's humanity so she could love her next three babies. So whenever she was feeling melancholy, she'd sing this song.

"Softly stir in your content

God blessed me with this gift

Now I lay you down to sleep

And sink deep in a sea of peace"

"Angels sway

And take you away

I still remain

Forever I stay"

"Breating slowly now

I still wonder how

My darling gift was stolen

And left my heart bent and broken"

"I will stay

No matter how far away

By your side

Because you are two of a kind"

Anna's discomfort soon disampated into the stillness of the night as she fell back into her tranquil sleep. Ora grinned yet again. Anna's content was her content.

A sudden and ominous presence snapped Ora's attention towards the gate where Klaus was standing. Even though it was long into the night, Klaus still wore a clean and neat plaid shirt and black pants. And even though he was considerably younger than she, Ora still felt intimidated by his very presence. Something about the way his glasses masked his stormy blue eyes with their glare was menacing, and something about his straight slit for a mouth and unrelenting stare was something of inhuman.

"Ora," Klaus called softly as he was not eager to awake his gingerly sleeping beloved.

She did not immediantly resopond as she made her way to the unlocked door. She manages a sense of stable bravery in the face of a murdering prodigy and kept ample distance between them. "Yes?"

"I have something for Anna," he said, "A bit of a trinket really. I wish to apalogize for my abrupt news earlier today. It was... much to ask for her to take in so much at once."

"That's an understatement to say the least," Ora replied, "You asked Anna to accept the fact that you'll one day become a serial killer like your father and his father and his father's father. She loves you, and she doesn't want to see you walk the path your ancestors have paved for you back in the ancient times. For that time was corrupt and misguided, as were their minds then and your mind now."

Klaus was silent for a moment, not really wanting to hear any ignorance a woman like Ora would have to say. He has been taught that women are inferior to all men, and though he made an exception for Anna, he was surely never going to allow himself to hear any wisdom from the mouth of a whore.

"As I was saying," Klaus continued, "I have recovered something I hope she will appreciate." He lifted up his hand in which he held a single rock about the size of a grapefruit.

Ora stared at the rock distastefully. "A rock? You expect an apalogy from Anna and all you give her as a condolence is a rock?"

"It is not just a rock," he explained. "Some of the workers burned George's body today. I have tried to salvage at least one of his belongings, but my father has forbode it. However, I did manage to obtain one of the rocks we burned his body in."

He held out the rock to her and waited patiently for her to recieve it. Ora was wary and nervous of this strange young man. Just why in the heavens would he give that poor little girl one of the rocks used to cover her cherished friend's burning body?

"She needs a piece of him," Klaus explained, "George left before his time was done, so I hope that this gift will aid in her recovery, even if it does little."

"I worry that this piece will only harm her further," Ora pointed out.

Klaus shook his head. "Sometimes, you must hurt in order to heal. You of all people should know this."

True. Ora has had to go through the unspeakable just to speak at all, just to remain breathing. Some wounds are scars that can only be mended, never completely healed. In order to survive this life they have been given, they will gain the scars the others inflict. But scars don't kill you.

Ora finally accepted the rock and dropped her hand to her side. Klaus took a prolonged blink before he turned and left. He and her may have distinct differences, but one thing shall forever remain perfectly similar: the both loved Anna. Ora was convinced that she has only lived this long, that she has only been able to evade demise, so she could save Anna from this fate. Though there was an unspoken understanding that Anna would never be fully protected from the dark sin that shrouds this mansion, her pure heart shall never be tainted with the shadows of the prison. Just as George had wanted.

George had confided in Ora years before his death that his only dreams were to make it out of here and to take Anna with him. He said there was abundant hatred in the modern world, but that people like Anna would be reveered as saints or angles for their open hearts and kindness, apparently an uncommon trait out there. He spoke with such a belief that there actually was a chance of an escape, but his hope was torn away from him like his soul from his body when he was killed.

In her life, Ora had seen too much slaughter and doom for her to really feel anything for the people who died. This experience has numbed her from such things. However, there was a somber emptiness in her heart now that she realized the importance of his life. He was more than a homeless drunk; he was more that a prisoner here. George had deserved more than having to die here. He was a father, and a friend. Ora clutched the rock as she tried to hold onto his legacy. But the task was not her's. It was Anna's job now to carry his soul in her heart. Maybe George's death will be a catalyst for better things to come. Just maybe.

* * *

Man, I wish I could've wrote the early chapters of Strike Down like this. But back then it was a Comedy/Suspense, and now I realize just how silly that seemed. I want to go back and make the chapters as serious as this story, but the thing is: Strike Down has a tangible sense of real life and happiness as this story has only a grip on inemment demise and despair. I put humor into Strike Down to grasp a better concept of life because life is not just full of doom and emptiness; it contains fragments of it but it also has fragments of joy and prosperity and humor and fear. Life is not a bleak void: it's only a blank page for you to write on.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed from your friendly writer, W. A. T. Feel free to review and to PM me if you don't understand something about this, especially if you haven't read the original story to this.

Later!


	4. Numb

I have nothing of importance to input before we begin.

You wanna waste time? Then listen to this brain teaser. If not, then scroll down. There once was an old man who owned a wolf, a sheep, and a cabbage. One day, his mean wife told him to go sell those three items so he could buy her a horse. So the next day he held the ropes that were attatched to the collars of the sheep and the wold and carried the cabbage in a wagon. The old man came across a river too rapid to swim across and too wide to jump across. On the bank on his side, there was a small boat that could only carry two things at a time: Him and one of his items. How can he get across the river without the wolf eating the sheep or the sheep eating the cabbage? Hint: There are two real answers. You may have heard of this before, but I just wanted to waste time :P

* * *

Strike Down: Dementia

Four: Numb

* * *

Anna awoke the next morning to see that her friend had already departed with her daily morning duty. 'Twas a shame, for Anna rather enjoyed Ora's company. Anna sometimes thought of the woman as her mother, though she was constantly unsure about the topic since she had no idea what maternity was. Her mother, born in Sweden captured in a German port, died giving birth to her. Klaus informed Anna that her mother was one o the few people that had been captured who was actually missed in society. There was a three month search for her but due to their mansion's isolation, Harold managed to evade suspision. So at least Anna took solice in the fact that at least her mother wasn't a prostitute or drug dealer.

Her mother wasn't of her recent griefs though. Tin Can was dead. Anna loved her Cousin Tin Can, she often viewed him as a father figure. At least, so she thought. Along with her mother, Anna had no idea who her biological father was. Neither did Klaus, Ora, Horace, or Jiyanna. Though Anna didn't care. She once had the only she's ever wanted with her five friends, with the five no dwindling down to four. In her mind, deep in her thoughts, Anna wanted a new addition to her family. One of legit relation. Anna wanted a baby. Though she wanted to wait a few more years and to be married, Anna saw her life complete when she had a tiny being wrapped in a warm, soft blanket in her arms. But with Tin Can's death, her perfect family was missing a chunk of the puzzle. Cousin Tin Can meant more to Anna than just some homeless drunkyard. He was her friend.

Her mind swollen with depression, Anna didn't notice the rock sitting beside her start to wobble. The stone began to roll circles around her until she finally caught sight of the bizarre happening. How was the rock rolling around on its own accord?

"Aww, please don't cry now Sweetness," a echoed voice beckoned from the rock.

There was only one person who ever called Anna "Sweetness".

"Cousin Tin Can?"

The rock laughed kindly. "Imma 'fraid so my dear."

It was good to hear Tin Can's voice again, German accent and all. Anna smiled, though she didn't really know how to respond to the soul of her deceased friend speaking through a rock.

"But... you are a rock now?"

He laughed again. "Well, I possessed it. My soul latched onto the rock while my body lay burnin' on the beach."

Anna was puzzled. "So, how is it that you found your way here?"

"That boyfriend of your's," Tin Can's spirit replied. "He wanted to let you keep a piece of me even after my death."

Klaus. He'd think she's gone mad once he hears about this. It's hard enough to get him to believe in anything that strays from the path of logic and science, so asking him to listen about her hearing George's voice coming from a rock is out of the question. Then again, Klaus doesn't _have_ to know about Cousin Tin Can. They can live throughout their merry lives and not have to ever bring up Anna's encounter. It seemed to be the best option to her at the moment. Wait, what did Tin Can say?

Anna flushed red dye on her cheeks. "Klaus is not my boyfriend."

"Don't ya lie to me lass," Tin Can threatened falsely, "I may have died an old fart but that does not dictate my wisdom."

Anna became slightly agitated as she defended, "He-he does not like me that way! I do not deserve one who possesses that amount of intelligence!"

"Don't ya dare sell yourself short, Sweetness," Tin Can repremanded sternly. "The daffed bastards that work here do not see the real value in women! You are a precious gift by God; a treasure rather a tool. Both sexes are equal, that's why there are two because it was split fifty-fifty."

George was one beyond his years. After a (shortened) lifetime of immense cruelty and pity, he found that such an experience can only give you wisdom so long as it does not kill you. He grew up with a single mother for most of his life as his father was killed in World War II while acting as a spy against the Nazis. His mother was in constant emotional agony over his death while he and his sister bore the neglect as a result. His mother married again, as the time period was not best suited for a single mother, to a damaged man tainted with affluenzic desire but cloaked by a warm face and a honorable reputation. George and his sister sat by unable to do much as the step-father tore away at her fragile emotional state until her psyche finally split open. She had been found dead one morning and while most people either say that it was a suicide or that the step-father smothered her, George and his sister believed that there was no room for life in her mind as it was clouded by low self-esteem and emptiness. His sister followed suit and ended up stepping off a bridge one summer due to one too many men stabbing words into her heart. With this childhood, George managed to find the real value in women that has been taken for granted, so he gave all of his heart to one girl. The thing was, his wife was so damaged that she could only bare to be in the presence of the hand that hit her rather than the hand that tried to save her. He couldn't let this happen to Anna.

The fourteen-year-old cupped the rock in her hands gingerly. In her short life, Anna has only heard that her destiny was to be a birth mother to babies she is never supossed to love. That's all anyone has ever told her, the only honorable thing she could ever do. But Cousin Tin Can was the first person who gave her hope that one day she will do more than facing a fate here. Though she wasn't sure if she could ever escape, her mind was now open to the idea.

There was a knock on the wall by her cell door. Anna placed Tin Can's rock on a shelf by her bed and turned back around to greet Horace Schadel, Klaus's best friend since childhood other than herself. Horace was a young man only a few months older than Klaus but was signifigantly taller and with a strong build. He had dark violet hair styled in a spikey look with eyes do deep that they seemed to be black and he had skin as white as bone. He always thought of himself as attractive, as many younger women saw this as well, and often times came off as concieted. However, Horace was loyal and treated Anna kindly with incredible respect. Most likely because she was claimed by his best friend and virtually untouchable to anyone but Klaus.

"Hello?" Anna asked as she approached the mountain of a man.

"Ah, Anna, you look absolutely radiant today," Horace commented, making her blush.

"Do not flatter me, though it humbles me greatly."

Horace grinned. "You are very modest. Anyways, I am afraid that I have some unsettling news."

Anna's heart dropped. "Wha-? What is it?"

His face went from friendly to grim. "It's Jiyanna. Something has happened and she personally asked for me to bring you and Klaus to her. She mentioned Ora, but she's busy getting her baby checked out."

Baby? So Ora's pregnant again? Anna shook that dilema out of her head as she was more concerned for Jiyanne. Other than Ora, Jiyanne is the closest friend to Anna who is female. Jiyanne is the only survivng triplet out of her and her sisters Eis and Kiri, and her birth mother is actually still alive, though the two hardly ever acknoledge each other. And she just reached her age. However while Ora is rather solem about being a birth mother, Jiyanne seems to relish in the fact of having little babies like Anna. They've both fantasized and gossiped about what their children would look like and what they're names would be. If Anna were to have a child, she had no clue of what to name it. Jiyanne, on the other hand, counted twelve possible names to her first dozen kids. Yesterday was the day scheduled for her first conception, so what would be the matter? Isn't this what she wanted?

"What has happened?" Anna questioned.

Horace shrugged. "I just found her huddled in the corner of one of the hallways. I can tell you where so I can go find Klaus."

Anna nodded as she listened to Horace's instructions. Afterwards, she rushed out of the dungeon and hurried upstairs and down the hall where she found her dear friend sobbing and rocking in a corner. Jiyanne wore a silky white dress with no sleeves with buttons going completely vertical that were hastily miss-matched. Her magenta hair sheilded her face but did not in anyways distract Anna from seeing the buises on her arms.

Anna approached her, unsure of what exactly to do. Obviously Jiyanne was very distressed, but Anna hadn't a hypothesis of what was wrong with her. Jiyanne dreamed of the day when she could have a baby. She should be completely elated, but apparently not.

"Jiya?" Anna whispered, reaching out a shakey hand to her crying friend, "What is it? What happened?"

Jiyanne shook her head and sobbed, "P-please Anna... I-It's s-s-s-so hor-h-horrible."

"Jiyanne, what do you mean?"

She lifted up her bruised and battered face with black circling her hazel eye and a blood-dried cut just above her blue eye. Her lip was also cut and the white of her eyes were tinted with red from her obsessive crying. "You don't wanna get pregnant."

Anna was shocked. Having babies was all they have ever talked about. Jiyanne said it would be joyous to carry a child.

"Jiya, what is it that you mean?"

Her face lit up rouge in anger. "Dammit Anna! Are you deaf?! What was done to me is worse than any Hell these damn people may have in store when they rot in their own sin!"

It was forbidden for women to swear, especially as loud as she was and even more so since she was cursing the people with full content of murdering them both. What really hurt Anna, however, was that she cursed infront of her. To hear such crude language is not meant for her virgin ears. She wants to live a life away from all evil, and that includes cussing.

"Jiyanne!" Anna scolded, her face no growing red with rage, "That is improper speech!"

"Oh screw proper speech!" Jiyanne retorted visciously. "I don't give a damn anymore!"

"They will kill you!"

"Fine! Let them kill me! Let them rip out every one of my ribs and gut out my heart with a spoon! Let them poison me with arsinic and slit my tongue so I can choke on my own blood! Or, better yet, let them reap this monster I have living inside of me right now! Let them rid me of this parasite!"

Anna was horrified by her words. "That is utterly grotesque!"

Jiyanne's eyes struck a nerve for Anna. Everything she was saying, she meant every word of it. "You don't understand Anna. If what I have just experience is supposed to be love making, then that is the most hateful way to make love." She buried her face back in her arms and knees while Anna knelt down beside her and wrapped her arms around her comfortingly. "I-i didn't even know him and he, he acted like he hated me! All he did was hit me and, and get mad and throw me on the ground l-like I was trash! I-I don't wanna carry that rat bastard's baby! I w-want no part of him!"

The younger girl's heart ached heavily for her friend to hurt like this. Jiyanne was a stranger to depression, her life was filled with the color pink and thoughts of a happily-ever-after with her beloved children. As it would turn out, Jiyanne's happy ending is shrouded by kilometers of burning Hell.

A few moments later, Horace and Klaus appeared to the strange sight of two normally perky girls consumed is a forlorn cloud. It pained Klaus Redgaurd greatly to see the girl he loves wrapped up in the despair his forefathers cast upon them. Anna deserved better than to be here. She deserved better than to be trapped in the buisness he must soon operate himself. Pretty soon, what just happened to Jiyanne will happen to his beloved Anna.

"Holy... What's the matter Ji?" Horace questioned, neglecting his grammar as well.

Jiyanne becaome enraged yet again and sarted moving backwards from them. "G-get the hell away from me! Go away you blasted men!"

"Jiya, they're our f-"

"Anna, stop," Klaus interupted. "Give her space."

Jiyanne stood and ran away from them, leaving Horace extremely confused and Anna extremely worried. Klaus, however, was a tad athetic.

"Horace," he said, not even looking at his friends, "Go find Ora and tell her to talk to Jiyanne. If someone tries to stop you, tell them it's my orders and do it anyways."

Horace obeyed and left. Klaus then turned his attention to the little girl still recovering from the events. He felt a need to console her. He loved her, so he might as well. "She got raped," Klaus stated blankly.

The word did not sit well in Anna's ears. She knew what it meant, she just didn't like what it means. "Klaus, don't use that word."

"Grammar doesn't really matter-"

"No, I mean, I do not want to hear that word. Especially when it is used to describe what has happened to someone I care for."

It was torturing for Klaus to think of how distant they have become. Anna was the only person to make him smile anymore. After yesterday and the events of today, he started to lose hope of ever regaining her trust. But no matter what, no matter how much she may come to despise him, he'd still and forever love her.

"It is going to happen to me, too, isn't it?" Anna asked solemly.

Klaus didn't want to answer. He'd never willingly let this happen to her, but he knew that so long s Anna lived in here that it was inevidable. "No," he lied.

Anna caught the uncertainty in his voice as he has found it increasingly hard to lie to her before. "You are lying. That means that I will become unhappy like Jiyanne or numb like Ora. I will lose what I have kept dear to me throughout all of this."

Klaus shook his head. "I will never let that happen to you. You know that, do you not?"

Anna turned towards him, eyes meant to be menacing but instead only exposed her fear and weakness. "I do not even know you anymore! Do not act like I do because I do not!"

"Anna, please. If there was another option for me then I would take it in a heartbeat. Just because I am Harold's son does not spare me from my family's curse!"

There was a thick silence for the longest time before Anna spoke. "I apalogize."

Klaus reached over and latched onto Anna's hand and pulled her closer to him. "Anna, have I ever broken a promise to you?"

She shook her head.

He took his hand away from her's and traded it for an embrace. "Then you know to trust me."

Anna nodded then replied, "Yes."

"I will never let them get to you. I promise." He held her tighter. "I would rather die."

* * *

Later that night, Anna held Tin Can's rock close to her as she tried to fall asleep in her empty cell. Ora was still consoling Jiyanne and Horace and Klaus had other things to discuss. Anna felt disconnected from the world now. All evil has become numb to her touch, though not as numb as Ora was to the world. the small girl was so confused by the conflicting realities of the outside world to her's. In the outside there is hope, her world has only housed sin. There was no silver-lining in her situation, there was just the lightning filled storm clouds and the fluffy sugar-white ones.

"Go to sleep now, Anna," Tin Can said from his rock.

"I will," Anna answered, though she knew it will be a long night before she can ever find herself falling to sleep. It was settled, she'll leave this place. It's the only way for her to survive or at least to keep her sensitivitey to happiness. Before she becomes so numb that she stops feeling all together.

* * *

For those of you who can guess what monsters Jiyanne and Horace are based off of, good for you. Anna isn't really based off of anything and I've stated on Strike Down that I got the idea for Klaus's character from Aya's father off of Mad Father, though Klaus is not _that_ insane.

So, later!


	5. Tacit

A familiar face will come in this chapter, and you all will finally learn what is happening. What happens in this book is sick and twisted and I do not agree with it, just a reminder. Also a reminder, I only own my OCs. Nothing else.

* * *

Strike Down: Dementia

Five: Tacit

* * *

"Goddammit!" Klaus cursed as he threw a scalpel into the wall.

He had just accidentally severed Diamant's aorta and killed it. He didn't mean to kill the vermin, but his mind has been disassembled and thrown around all day. His father has been pressuring him to murder his first human and dissect them, and he has been giving him bunnies to practice dissecting on while they were alive. Anna was able to get her hands on Klavier and spared him of this fate. The other bunnies won't be so lucky.

Klaus glanced down at the other six bunnies, their noses twitching and their fur fuzzy with tender fluff. He didn't feel right doing this to them, with frogs or cats or cows even was fine, but these bunnies reminded him too much of Anna. But this is what he had to do. He had to carry on his family's work after generations and literally millenia of trying to perfect the art of recreating the Egyptian monsters.

His father made it very clear: _"In order to sovereign the perfect beings, you must cut and gut and sew and throw away what you don't need so nothing useless will be used to breed"._ It was a twisted view of perfection, but it was needed to be done. It was all Klaus was ever told he was supposed to do. Harold kept going on about how they would become famous after the game was released. Klaus still remembered the day the white-haired guy came to the mansion. He was the first one to leave. Alive, that is.

The man's name was Maxamillion Pegasus, a weird guy who came to the mansion some two years ago in a clean red suit and long silver hair and a golden yellow piece of jewelry where his eye should be. His appearance did not frighten Klaus, however, since he has seen much worse. The man was jubilant and childish (a little too much for his taste) and viewed the mansion as "gorgeously terrifying like a Scooby-Doo haunted house". Whatever that meant.

Harold invited Pegasus to his abode after word spread of his idea of bringing back an old Egyptian myth in the form of a card game called "Duel Monsters". Ironically the same myth they were trying to recreate in the form of flesh bodies. He shared with them everything he knew about the myth as did the Redgaurd men in return. He also let Klaus keep five sample cards he had been working on: The Dark Magician, The Dark Magician Girl, St. Joan, Red Eyes Black Dragon, and the most powerful of all, Blue Eyes White Dragon. The magicians looked different from the way he remembered read in Egyptian folklore; like the fact that the girl's hair in the card was blonde instead of brown and the male's was violet instead of brown as well. And the white dragon had no girl portrayed anywhere in the description or image like the story told. There wasn't even a mention of Kisara. The other two didn't have much written about them.

Klaus noticed the similarities between him and the appearance of Kisara once asked Harold if there was any connection. He complied that many generations ago, the Redgaurd family started trying to recreate the dragon girl in pursuit of the most powerful of the monsters. He said that due to their own testing, the Redgaurds now carry the genes to make another "Kisara"; basically if Klaus was to have a child there would be at least a 50% chance of having a daughter who looked exactly like the dragon girl.

After Pegasus left, Harold was convinced that they would rule the world after everyone becomes aware of the power these monsters possessed and come to _them_ looking for an equivalence to their power that shall be granted in the form of medicine. Harold said they would become rich beyond means and keep the most powerful monsters to themselves just in case the public gets antsy. He, like his forefathers, believed himself to be superior beyond any other mortal. Harold believed that it was a Redgaurd man's god-given right to sovereign great power and rule over all. _They_ were the only ones intelligent enough to make the beasts, _they_ were the only ones who could control them, so naturally_ they_ should be the rule over the pawns of the world. They should be gods.

Sitting alone in his room with the blood of a rabbit blanketing his chest and rage building in the same area, Klaus started to gain rebellion against his father. Harold was sick. He only wished to kill the innocent and conquer the weak. It was evil, it was beyond evil. Klaus has had enough of it.

He looked over at the surviving six bunnies whose fate was to be the same as Diamant's. The twitching of their noses and the wavering of their doughy eyes sickened him. They were too innocent. They were too pure. They were too much like Anna. His beloved was a symbol of perfection and kindness, and these vermin were sent by his father to dissect alive. There was too close of a relation for him to continue. He couldn't preform these acts anymore. Especially with Anna involved.

Ever since they met, Klaus has swore to one day free Anna from this place. She deserved better than to rot here with the filth society cast away. Morally, she was the only true human left here. There had to be something he could do. While pondering some means of escape, his father walked in drenched in a stranger's blood. At least, he hoped it was a stranger.

Harold's white hair was messy and matted with filth and gore and his muddy brown eyes were hazy with his lust for the thrill of murder. "Ah, Klaus my boy," he bellowed happily as his thick belly thumped with his deep laughter. "Judging by your frustration in your curses and the scalpel in the wall I would say that you are troubled."

Klaus looked at his father through his glasses. Maybe he could reason a deal with him. "Father. Is it necessary to kill the innocent like this?"

Harold exploded in thundering laughter. "What? You mean the rabbits? They are just rabbits, Klaus, they are worthless! They can be thrown away and bought again. You do not need to fret about something with practically no value."

Worthless? These are living things. "Father, I- I do not want to kill something that has done no wrong."

His father's eyes became shrouded in burning anger. "What? What did you say?"

_Nothing_, that's what he wanted to say. All of his life he has feared his father. Harold was a brawny man with thick skin, not fat, skin, and a temper that could flare on a whim. He was like a stick of dynamite that was always lit but with a different fuse length for every day. Harold wasn't above murdering his own child either. Due to Harold's many wives, various concubines, and rapes, Klaus technically have one hundred and twelve brothers and sisters. Though most of them are dead or will die because Harold believes in "one ruler" or "one primary successor". Basically, he only wants to deal with one child. Klaus got lucky that Harold chose him as his beneficiary. Honestly he didn't care about the money or the power, he just cared that he was still alive.

This time, Klaus did not back down. He had to stand up to his father sooner or later. "I said that I will not murder anymore people or animals that have not done anything wrong. It is sick and evil what we are doing and I despise it! And I despise you!"

Harold became furious and grabbed his son by the neck and threw him into a bookshelf, knocking a few books onto him in the process. Then he walked over to Klaus's desk and pulled out a pocket knife then returned to his son who was too fearful to stand. Klaus thought that maybe if stayed motionless and quiet that Harold would ignore him and practice his assault on some other unlucky person. But no. Life wasn't that generous to him.

The older man took the knife and stabbed Klaus in the arm with it. Klaus grimaced and cringed in reaction. The knife was deep into his arm, but luckily it didn't hit any veins, probably on purpose. Harold knew exactly where every major artery was, so this was probably a threat. Not a bluff, but an honest threat.

"Listen to me you whelp!" Harold growled. "I did not waste seventeen years of raising you just to have you pussy out like some ignorant girl! I gave you vast knowledge that no one living knows about and you dare repay me by disrespecting my orders!?" He shook Klaus's shoulder violently. "Take that back or I will slit your arm wide open and make you bleed to death!"

It could be so easy to just succumb to his father. All he had to do is take back his words, but he couldn't. It was impossible to take back something he meant. "I will not. I do not care if I die so go on and slit my throat open while you are at it!"

Harold pressed the knife deeper into his arm, almost shoving it clean through, and replied, "It's that wench isn't it? It's that stupid girl you like isn't it?!"

Klaus's heart sank.

"It's that white-haired skank living in the dungeons! She's corrupted you!"

The young man violently shook his head. "No! Please Father! Anna has done no wrong! She is a pure spirit, a saint! She could not corrupt me if she tried!"

"That's just it you fool," Harold said. The hypocrite neglected his perfect grammar law by now in favor of abusing his favorite son. "She is too innocent! She has clouded your judgement with false hope and cheap promises! That girl's a distraction and I can't have her ruining our perfect future!"

"No Father! Don't harm her!" By this time, Klaus was too worried to use perfect grammar anymore either. "I won't ever talk to her again! I'll kill anyone you say! Just please don't kill her! I love her! I love her!"

Harold tore the weapon from his son's arm and thrust it into the bookshelf just beside Klaus's neck. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. Klaus has never been this fearful for his life, but he was more worried for Anna. He could never let her die.

"I will tear that wench's guts from her body if I have to," Harold threatened, "She will distract you no more."

Harold finally released his grip on the knife and left it sticking out by Klaus's neck and left. For a few seconds that were so stretched out that it felt more like eons, he just sat there with a deep stab wound pouring blood and his rushing heart not benefiting his needs. The horror of his father's words took awhile to set in. Harold is going to kill Anna. He is going to steal his one true love from him.

He felt helpless. he wasn't strong enough to fight his father, and he couldn't be with Anna all day. What did he expect? There is no happy ending for someone like him. He's the antagonist- the bad guy. He murders people and animals for practically no reason other than to create some deluded fantasy ushered by his Egyptian ancestors that may not even be true. But that never stopped him before. It will not stop him now. Anna cannot die because of him.

"Horace," he muttered. Horace knew more about the dungeons than he and Horace was much stronger. He could protect her for the time being until he can think of someway to flee from this hellhole.

Klaus stood up, neglecting his wounded arm, and ran out into the hallway as lightning streaked across the sky. The storm was violent and pounded against the roof and windows with great force. Horace is probably lurking around here somewhere. Klaus turned the corner and called for his friend desperately. Horace would do anything for Klaus. If it wasn't for him, Horace would be dead. When they were children, Harold wanted to kill him and start over because Horace wasn't as "skeletal" as he wanted. Klaus was able to stop him by playing the ethnics card, and since then the violet-haired male devoted his life to obeying him. If he could trust Anna's safety with anybody, it was Horace.

The second corridor yielded no signs of his friend and he began to panic. He turned around yet another corner and saw a familiar girl with magenta hair cleaning the floor. It was Jiyanne. Klaus felt sorrow for poor Jiyanne. She's been through much, some of which will one day will happen Anna unless they escape. Jiyanne's first experience in the arms of man was a violent and painful. It was something no one should ever experience. For this young girl, however, it has bruised her psyche more than it has bruised her physical being. She is now afraid of all males, and it took her a lot of convincing for her to not immediately jump out the window and end her life. The thought of that happening to Anna was sickening judging by the way Jiyanne has acted about this.

He approached the woman cautiously. One wrong move and he might spook her away. He crept towards her, treating her as if she was a frightful deer, and carefully tapped her shoulder. As soon as he made contact, Jiyanne jumped and backed even further away once she saw that it was him. Not only that, but she took quick attention towards his bleeding arm.

"The hell do you want?!" Jiyanne demanded.

The woman was damaged, so Klaus had to act as kind as possible towards her. "Jiyanne, I do not wish to hurt you. I wish to see Horace."

"Oh, yeah right," she answered sarcastically with her words portrayed as if everyone of them were hissed curses. "You probably just got a defense wound from some poor girl locked into your lust like a caged animal!"

Klaus shook his head. "No. It's Anna. She's in danger. Father... Harold wants to kill her."

A satisfactory smile crept across her face. "All you men are the same. You put us women in trouble in favor for your own safety."

"Jiya, I really do not care for my safety right now!" he protested. "Anna is my one true love. She is my day and my night, my hope and my light. It's my fault if she dies and I need for someone to protect her while I try to distract Harold!"

Jiyanne looked him up and down, evaluating his honesty, and finally answered, "I last saw Horace going down to the dungeons."

"Okay." Klaus turned to leave before Jiyanne stopped him.

"Wait! If you're planning on leaving, I only ask for you to take me with you."

"Why?"

A look came across the young woman's face. It was a chilling glare with her multi-colored eyes exhibiting great contempt. It was the look of true hatred. One of revenge. "Because I will walk straight up to that bastard father of yours and tell him about what you're planning. If he doesn't believe me, then I'll just kill you myself."

Her threat was very much real. She was a frail woman, but she can surely get her hands on some arsenic poison him or slit his throat in his sleep or something of that caliber. Jiyanne was unstable, and it is the weak buildings that are the ones prone to collapse.

Klaus nodded. "Fine."

He sped down the stairs and turned the corner in the guest room and pushed the third brick from the pale yellow lamp. The guest bed lifted up and the floor boards retracted underneath it until the stairs became visible. As he descended into its depths, he flipped the statue sitting in a impression in the stone wall to his right which shut the trap door.

Even before he opened the large crimson double doors, Klaus could make out the sounds of a woman being tortured, murdered possibly. Judging by her Italian dialogue, Klaus could instantly tell that it wasn't Anna. The relief was minuscule compared to the horror that awaited her by his father's hand.

Klaus pushed open the doors and grimaced as the first dozen cells were packed full with twelve people per cell. As he made he way through the first area, the prisoner reached out their hands, hungry to rip him limb from limb. Pretty much every prisoner knew who he was and/or had been affected by him in some way. They cursed him and threatened to unleash the same torture on him ten fold. He ignored them; there was something of more importance on him mind.

Seven rooms later, he found himself in the "nicer" half of the dungeons where he eventually found Horace napping in his cell. Klaus threw the unlocked door open, startling Horace from his slumber. He instantly noticed that the white-haired man was injured.

"Good Lord Klaus," Horace gasped. "The hell happened to you?"

Klaus shook his head, breathless from the excessive running. "Not important. Anna's in danger."

Horace stretched and stood up. "Anna? What happened?"

"Harold wants to kill her," he explained, "He thinks that she's a distraction so he wants to kill her. It is my fault, I was being defiant and angered him. It is my fault and I need for you to protect her until I find a way for us to escape."

If he wasn't before, Horace was wide awake now. "Escape? Klaus that's crazy."

He furrowed his eyes. "My father's a maniac who traps and murders people. It takes a crazy action to get away from a crazy person."

Horace sighed and was level with his friend's gaze. "You're serious?"

He nodded.

"You do know that if we fail, we'll be murdered, right?"

"If we fail, death is better than staying here," Klaus responded grimly.

"True. What's the plan?"

He grunted in exhaustion and leaned against the wall. "I'm not sure yet. There's you, Anna, me, Jiyanne, and Ora. We're all leaving."

The older one looked puzzled. "Why Jiyanne and Ora?"

"Jiyanne because of blackmail," he answered with a sly smile, "and Ora for Anna's sake. I figured that since George died she could handle the outside better with a mother-figure." Klaus wiped the bloody hand he used to cover his wound on his pants leg. "I can trust you, right? To take care of Anna?"

Horace's mind traveled back to the day when Klaus saved him from certain doom. It was his moral duty to serve Klaus until the bitter end, no matter how harsh the command or how long their lives shall be. "Of course".

* * *

And done. I don't have much to say down here, so... have a nice day! Later!


End file.
